Energizing Michigan’s Youth

Apr 17, 2025 | Uncategorized

RISING LEADERS SHAPING A FUTURE FORWARD

Michigan GOP’s 9th District Youth Committee gathers around Chair Austin Franzel (center)

Energizing Michigan’s Youth 

District 9 On A Mission To Boost Engagement With New Ideas & Leadership

By Jay R. Taylor, 9th District Feature Writer

In an era when many young people care little about politics, one young leader shows that the next generation is increasingly ready to get involved. Meet Austin Franzel, a 25-year-old who is changing the way his generation engages with the Republican Party in Michigan’s 9th District.

We recently spoke with Austin to discover his motivation and creative approach to encouraging greater participation in community activities. Whether you’re a seasoned political enthusiast or someone simply curious about the future of our nation, the direction being taken will leave you optimistic and motivated. 

The Values that Shaped a Leader

Hailing from a small town in Lapeer County, Austin Franzel embodies the values of hard work, community, and self-reliance. Raised in an environment that cherished simplicity and independence, he developed a deep respect for constitutional freedoms and traditional American values. These principles became his guiding light as he began his political journey, which has already seen significant milestones.

Franzel serves as an executive committee member for Michigan’s 9th Congressional District Republican Party and chairs its Young Republicans Committee. He’s also a board member of the Lapeer County GOP, where he plays a critical role in communications, including launching newsletters, podcasts, and social media campaigns to enhance outreach. His grassroots activism began with door-knocking campaigns for candidates and his work with Young Americans for Liberty connected him to national networks and provided valuable training. Now, he’s channeling that experience into building a robust youth movement in District 9.

But Franzel isn’t just about titles and accomplishments—he’s about impact. His mission is clear: to empower young conservatives to become leaders who will uphold constitutional values while addressing the unique challenges of their generation. When asked why he is doing this, he said, “I see signs of hope and life in the youth right now that I haven’t seen in prior election years and cycles.”

Franzel understands the challenge of competing for time with young parents with children and the “digital-first” communities in which they live. Still, he views these obstacles as opportunities to create purpose-driven work that welcomes flexible participation. 

Enlisting a Generation Left Behind in the Fight

Franzel’s efforts to grow the District 9 Young Republicans Committee are more than just an exercise in party building; they’re a response to the urgent political, economic, and social realities that young people face today. He said his peers describe this as a “silent depression.”

From skyrocketing housing costs to inflation making necessities harder to afford—and the burden of student debt—many in this generation feel left behind by current policies. Franzel sees these struggles as opportunities to galvanize young voters around solutions rooted in conservative principles.

Beyond economic issues, many young people are disillusioned by what they perceive as government overreach and a loss of personal freedoms—sentiments amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Franzel recognizes how generational disconnects can leave younger members unsure of their capacity to lead or innovate. They are often held back from leadership roles due to traditional hierarchies within organizations. His vision includes creating pathways for youth who want a chance to lead by providing them with role opportunities and mentorship programs that foster confidence and skill development.

Socially, Franzel understands that engagement starts with connection. That’s why he organizes events that blend fun with purpose—jazz ball dances, skeet shooting outings, and other community activities—to attract those who might not initially see themselves as politically active. These gatherings foster camaraderie while introducing participants to the broader mission of the youth committee. Networking opportunities at these events help bridge communication gaps while empowering young conservatives to take on meaningful roles within their communities.

Franzel’s vision is already bearing fruit: engagement in the Ninth District Young Republicans Committee has grown from 13 members to nearly 30 participants under his leadership. This growth reflects his strategic outreach and the resonance of his message among young Michiganders eager for change. 

When Ideas Meet Opportunity: April 24 

If you’re looking for an opportunity to see this movement in action—and perhaps join it yourself—mark your calendar for April 24. Franzel will host the District 9 Youth Executive Committee Meeting at 7:00 PM at 266 Lake Nepessing Road in Lapeer, Michigan. The event starts with a social hour from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM, offering attendees a chance to mingle with other young leaders and experienced figures from Michigan’s GOP.

This isn’t just another meeting—it’s a chance to be part of something bigger and meet people at their level. Whether you’re passionate about addressing economic challenges, protecting personal freedoms, or simply connecting with like-minded peers, this event promises to be inspiring and actionable. Everyone is welcome—so bring your ideas, energy, and maybe even a friend! 

Success Will Not Be Secured Without Collaborative Effort

The success of this youth movement doesn’t rest solely on Franzel’s shoulders—it requires the collective effort of everyone in District 9 who believes in empowering future generations. Whether you’re a parent encouraging your child to get involved or a community leader offering mentorship and resources, your support can make all the difference.

Young people are not just tomorrow’s leaders but today’s changemakers. By rallying around initiatives like those led by Austin Franzel, we can ensure their voices are heard and their potential is realized. The future will not wait for us to act. Together, we can build a future where traditional values meet innovative solutions—and every individual has a stake in shaping their community.

4.15.2025 – MIGOP Chairman’s Update

Apr 15, 2025 | Uncategorized

Chairman’s Update: All In for Victory

Fellow Republicans,

We’re charging into 2025 with energy and purpose. Our State Committee meeting this past weekend was a huge success—proof that our grassroots is fired up and ready to win.

We’re rolling out events across Michigan, including a can’t-miss Kentucky Derby Fundraiser in just a few weeks, featuring Senator Rick Scott and members of our congressional delegation.

Our mission is clear: Build a winning team. Support President Trump and his America First agenda. Take back Michigan in 2026. We’re laying the groundwork now with a smart, aggressive plan to get it done.

Thanks for being in this fight with us. Let’s go win.

Senator Jim Runestad

MIGOP Chair

Sunny Reddy Elected Treasurer of the Michigan Republican Party

This weekend, the Michigan Republican Party elected Sunny Reddy as State Treasurer — a major step forward as we gear up for 2026.

Sunny is a successful entrepreneur, a Wayne State University board member, and a battle-tested conservative. He brings real financial discipline and a results-driven mindset to the table — exactly what we need heading into one of the most high-stakes election cycles in Michigan history.

With control of the State House, State Senate, Governor’s office, U.S. Senate, and more on the line, Sunny’s job is clear: build the war chest and fuel Republican victories across the board.

We’re focused, fired up, and ready to win. Let’s go.

🚨 Special Guest Announcement! 🚨

Senator Rick Scott and members of our congressional delegation will be joining us for our first major event of the year!

Join fellow Republicans for a thrilling kickoff that’s more than just a party—it’s the launch of our statewide push to take back Michigan. Events in Grand Rapids and Northern Michigan are up next, but this is where it all begins.

Space is limited and this event will sell out.

Reserve your ticket today and let’s ride full speed toward Republican victories in 2026!RSVP and DONATE ONLINE HERE

Apply to be a White House Intern

The White House Internship Program is a public service leadership program that provides a unique opportunity to gain valuable professional experience and build leadership skills.

Focused on cultivating future leaders, the program deepens interns’ understanding of the Executive Office and prepares them for careers in public service.

The Summer 2025 program emphasizes leadership development and community impact while honoring the White House’s legacy as a training ground for emerging leaders.

For more information or to apply, click here. 

Your support is invaluable. It fuels our mission to Make Michigan Great Again and keep our state a land of promise and prosperity for everyone.

Let’s unite around the truth, stay firm in our values, and keep working toward a brighter future. With your help, we will ensure that Michigan’s best days are ahead of us.

Thank you for your support. We couldn’t do it without you!

Principals of Secure Intra-Party Elections  — Part II

Apr 14, 2025 | Uncategorized

Principals of Secure Intra-Party Elections – Part 2

Last week, we went over the vulnerabilities in the Feb. 22nd State Convention’s election process. This week we will look at vote counting procedures used in caucuses like the one on Feb. 21st and many of our county conventions, sub-caucuses and EC and SC meetings, along with best practices to consider for this cycle and beyond.

For years – decades even – our counting procedures have been, at best, lax and, at worst, an invitation to corruption. That’s because our intra-party elections typically do not even follow Robert Rules of Order, which state: “If the issue is a controversial one [i.e. almost ALL of them nowadays] the tellers should include members on each side of the issue…” [Roberts Rules of Order, Simplified and Applied p. 175] Instead, since I began as a precinct delegate 16 years ago, the tellers have generally been selected by the Chair and his or her partisan team. Unfortunately, we’d never know if there’s cheating going on because, by the nature of election fraud, unless there is an audit, or the cheater is caught in the act, it will go undiscovered. The inherent chaos and hubbub of a convention only increases the risk and lowers the likelihood of fraud detection.

District 9 Caucus, Detroit, Feb. 21st, 2025.

District Caucus Elections

Although time constraints and other practical aspects of election methods are important, election security must be paramount, or why bother voting? So, we will focus on the key principals of a secure vote count for both paper ballots and roll call or standing counts. At our Feb. 21st 9th District Caucus, we implemented several security measures and incorporated them into both the hand-counted paper ballot and a “divide the room” run-off when no majority was achieved in the first round.

1.

Standing counts.

These involve voting delegates standing up so that their vote can be counted. Once counted, the delegate sits back down. This can be easily corrupted if there are solo tellers (where one teller counts a section by himself). A dishonest or incompetent solo teller could count to him or herself or skip forward or backward in the count (eg. the teller counts “26, 27, 28, 29….40, 41, 42”). When there’s no one checking the crooked or incompetent teller’s work, he can get away with it (I’ve seen it myself) in loud and contentious caucuses.

To prevent the above scenario, District 9 utilized a standing callback count with good success on Friday, February 21st, making it close to tamper and fool proof. Note: the standing callback count described below is recommended in Roberts Rules as a secure method of vote counting in large meetings. Importantly, the standing callback count does not rely merely on tellers counting “1,2,3,4….” It engages each voting delegate in the count with a “callback” from one of the three tellers. This makes it nearly impossible for a teller to cheat or err.

Standing callback count in practice

Here’s how it was done by the 9th District in Detroit…

1. Security sealed the two entrances (temporarily) to prevent ineligibles from being included in the count.

2. The room was divided, with supporters of one candidate on one side of the room and those of the other candidate on the other side.

3. The 6 tellers were divided into 2 groups – 3 tellers on each side.

4. Each teller had been hand-picked by the original 3 chair candidates (one of the candidates had already been eliminated in round one, but his tellers stayed on). Each candidate had one teller in both of the two groups.

The above diagram explains a Standing Callback Count

Thus, the 3 tellers on one side of the room represented all 3 original candidates with the identical situation on the other side of the room, meaning each candidate had one of their designated tellers with eyes on the counting of every single vote. All 3 tellers on each side of the room work together side by side. This means there is no splitting up of the count, which would enable some delegates to be counted by a teller picked by only one candidate.

Note: the corrupted or corruptible intra-party elections I’ve seen over the years resulted primarily from weak acceptance by grassroots delegates of majority establishment-picked tellers. Obviously, corruption can occur on either side of this historical divide, so the solution is to make the process as close to incorruptible as possible and to standardize that process statewide for all meetings.

Procedure recap

1. Teller 1 confirms Delegate # 5 is holding up a valid credential, then points to Delegate #5.

2. Delegate #5 loudly calls out: “FIVE!”

3. Teller 2 calls back loudly “FIVE!” and tallies the vote.

4. Teller 3 enters a slash on his clipboard signifying a 5-count. Note: all three tellers will do exactly the same thing and, at the end of the count, all three tellers’ final tallies have to match exactly.

5. Teller 1 moves on to the next delegate; confirms Delegate # 6 is holding up a valid credential, then points to Delegate #6.

6. Delegate #6 calls out “SIX!”

And so on, until the count is completed…

Note that in the above scenario we had 3 tellers counting each side of the room. This could also work with only 2 tellers per side with Teller 2 doing the work of Teller 3  (step 4).

Here’s a short video clip showing you how a callback count looks in practice using only two tellers. Note that both enter their count independently and that these counts must match at the end or the count is repeated. This principle of using more than one teller per counting section and the tellers’ results matching at the end is also embodied in our paper ballot hand-count process, which we will discuss next…

Sanilac County Chair, Alyson Edwards, serves as a teller representing one of the candidates at the Feb. 21st Distict 9 Caucus. Three 2-person teller pairs, each representing a candidate/slate, hand-counted the race’s paper ballots.

2.

Paper ballots

Please consider the following principles for any SC or EC meeting, County Convention or District Caucus election involving  important votes.

a. tellers should always equally represent supporters of the question or

candidates being voted on. In the Feb. 21st District 9 Caucus we had three candidates and two tellers were pre-selected by each candidate and no two tellers in a teller counting pair could be affiliated with the same candidate.

b. the teller team should rehearse the count – preferably a few days prior to the convention/election. This is where the bugs are identified. (We did a Zoom call but in person is better and will be done from now on).

c. Use an opaque ballot box container so vote tallies on ballots inserted aren’t visible.

d. Immediately prior to the voting, a teller should visibly demonstrate to all present that the ballot box is empty – challengers should be permitted to examine the inside of the box. 

e. Voter credential cards should be checked and marked. This is preferably done with a card punch so that no voter can vote twice. One poll worker volunteer must be assigned to check the credential of each voter prior to his receiving a ballot.

f. All voters who receive a ballot should be marked off in the “poll book” of eligible delegates and elevated alternates (if in a convention).

g. Ballot box(s) should be closely observed by tellers and security at all times.

h. Once voting is complete, tellers should count all the ballots and match the totals with the poll book count.

i. Vote counting should be done by TELLER PAIRS that must each count the same batch of ballots, one at a time, and achieve identical results. (This is similar to bank tellers who verify large sums by counting in pairs). Any discrepancies must be resolved before the results are submitted.

j. No teller pair can have two tellers affiliated with the same candidate or question being voted on.

k. The subtotals must be co-signed by both tellers in a counting pair and transferred using strict chain-of-custody (two people transfer the results sheet(s) together) to the aggregation tellers who will add up the subtotals – preferably the subtotal sheet never leaves the counting table and the aggregation tellers merely view the sub-totals on the sheets without physically handling them.

l. The aggregation tellers’ totals must all agree as well i.e. if there are two aggregation tellers who count up the subtotals from 4 teller pairs, the aggregation totals of both tellers must be identical. Any discrepancies must be resolved prior to submitting final results.

m. Best practices in these events should include rules that allow the video taping of the entire counting process. Videotaping of the voting, on the other hand, if permitted, should be from a distance that prevents visualization of a delegate’s vote on a ballot. Note that some cameras can zoom in very closely.

A tally sheet in use during the 9th District Caucus in Detroit with the signatures of the 6 tellers, all of whose final tallies had to match perfectly.

Please consider sharing this article with your EC, county or other committee’s tellers and leadership. Let’s work together with the goal of establishing best practices in all of our intra-party elections! If we do not set the example with rigorously secure intra-party elections, how can we demand secure public elections that are essential to the survival of our constitutional republic? 

Author: Phil O’Halloran, District 9 SC member and Vice Chair of MIGOP Election Integrity Committee. He welcomes feedback and is actively recruiting EI volunteers. He can be reached at: PhilipOHalloran@gmail.com.

Special Elections Across District 9, May, 6, 2025

Apr 8, 2025 | Uncategorized

District 9 Republicans,

Now is the time to research how you plan to vote in the upcoming May special elections, which will be held in selected jurisdictions. Here’s a simple guide to help you get started:

1. Review the information below to see if the elections affect you.

2. Study the proposals – you may need to visit your county or township supervisor’s website to learn more and decide how to vote.

3. Share this email with friends and neighborsin your area (this is very important).

4. Make sure to get out and VOTE!

Low voter turnout has been a significant issue for the Republican Party in Michigan, especially in red areas. This needs to change, and it will be one of our D-9 initiatives for this cycle.

Stay tuned for more updates on that front.

Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Schools Bond Proposal

Shall Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Schools, Huron County, Michigan, borrow the sum of not to exceed Twelve Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($12,700,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds therefor for the purpose of:

Erecting additions to, remodeling, furnishing and refurnishing, and equipping and re-equipping school buildings; erecting a school support building; acquiring and installing instructional technology and instructional technology equipment for school buildings; purchasing school busses; and equipping, developing and improving a playground, an athletic facility, parking areas, driveways, and sites?

The following is for informational purposes only:

The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2025 is .72 mill ($0.72 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a 0 mill net increase over the prior year’s levy. The maximum number of years the bonds may be outstanding, exclusive of any refunding, is twenty (20) years. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to be required to retire this bond debt is 1.13 mills ($1.13 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation).

(Pursuant to State law, expenditure of bond proceeds must be audited and the proceeds cannot be used for repair or maintenance costs, teacher, administrator or employee salaries, or other operating expenses.)

Fairhaven Township Mosquito Abatement

Shall Fairhaven Township be authorized to raise money for the purpose of providing mosquito abatement by establishing a Township-wide special assessment district that imposes special assessments on benefitting lands under MCL 41.3c including up to $58.00 annually per parcel for the 2025 tax year?

Davison Community Schools Sinking Fund Millage Proposal

Shall the limitation on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property in Davison Community Schools, Genesee and Lapeer Counties, Michigan, be increased by and the board of education be authorized to levy not to exceed 1.3575 mills ($1.3575 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of 10 years, 2026 to 2035, inclusive, to create a sinking fund for the purchase of real estate for sites for, and the construction or repair of, school buildings; for school security improvements; for the acquisition or upgrading of technology; for the acquisition of student transportation vehicles; for the acquisition of parts, supplies, and equipment used for the maintenance of student transportation vehicles; for the acquisition of eligible trucks and vans used to carry parts, equipment, and personnel for or in the maintenance of school buildings; for the acquisition of parts, supplies, and equipment used to maintain such trucks and vans; and all other purposes authorized by law; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2026 is approximately $1,554,667?

GRAND BLANC COMMUNITY SCHOOLS BUILDING AND SITE SINKING FUND RENEWAL PROPOSAL

This proposal will renew and restore the authority last approved by the electors in 2019 and which expires with the 2025 levy for the School District to levy a building and site sinking fund millage, the proceeds of which will be used to make improvements and repairs to the School District’s facilities. Pursuant to State law, the expenditure of the building and site sinking fund millage proceeds must be audited, and the proceeds cannot be used for teacher, administrator or employee salaries, maintenance or other operating expenses.

Shall the Grand Blanc Community Schools, County of Genesee, Michigan, be authorized to levy 0.9915 mills ($0.99 per $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of ten (10) years, being the years 2026 to 2035, inclusive, to maintain a sinking fund to be used for the construction or repair of school buildings, school security improvements, the acquisition or upgrading of technology, the acquisition of student transportation vehicles, trucks and vans and parts, supplies and equipment used for the maintenance of these vehicles and for any other purposes permitted by law?  This millage if approved and levied would provide estimated revenues to the School District of approximately $_2,335,025__ in the first year that it is levied.

YALE PUBLIC SCHOOLS SINKING FUND MILLAGE RENEWAL PROPOSAL

This proposal will allow the school district to continue to levy the building and site sinking fund millage that expires with the 2025 tax levy.

Shall the currently authorized millage rate of .9946 mill ($0.9946 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) which may be assessed against all property in Yale Public Schools, St. Clair and Sanilac Counties, Michigan, be renewed for a period of 7 years, 2026 to 2032, inclusive, to continue to provide for a sinking fund for the purchase of real estate for sites for and the construction or repair of school buildings and all other purposes authorized by law; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2026 is approximately $550,000 (this is a renewal of millage that will expire with the 2025 tax levy)?

AUTHORIZATION OF ROAD IMPROVEMENT MILL-AGE

Shall the Township of Kenockee, St. Clair County, Michigan, renew a millage under Article IX, Section 6 of the Michigan Constitution on general ad valorem taxes within Kenockee Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, in the amount of 0.8 mills ($0.80 per $1000 of taxable value) for a period of four (4) years, 2025 through 2028, inclusive, for the sole purpose of providing funds for road improvements within Kenockee Township, where by levying such a millage for said purpose, the Township of Kenockee shall raise in the first year an estimated revenue of $79,329.88?

ALGONAC COMMUNITY SCHOOLS OPERATING MILLAGE RENEWAL PROPOSAL

This proposal will allow the school district to continue to levy the statutory rate of not to exceed 18 mills on all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, required for the school district to receive its revenue per pupil foundation allowance and renews millage that will expire with the 2025 tax levy.

Shall the currently authorized millage rate limitation of 18.7435 mills ($18.7435 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, in Algonac Community Schools, St. Clair County, Michigan, be renewed for a period of 3 years, 2026, 2027 and 2028, to provide funds for operating purposes; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and 18 mills are levied in 2026 is approximately $5,471,289 (this is a renewal of millage that will expire with the 2025 tax levy)?

REESE PUBLIC SCHOOLS SINKING FUND MILLAGE PROPOSAL

Shall the limitation on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property in Reese Public Schools, Tuscola, Saginaw and Bay Counties, Michigan, be increased by and the board of education be authorized to levy not to exceed 1.5 mills ($1.50 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of 5 years, 2025 to 2029, inclusive, to create a sinking fund for the purchase of real estate for sites for and the construction or repair of school buildings; for school security improvements; for the acquisition or upgrading of technology; for the acquisition of student transportation vehicles; for the acquisition of parts, supplies, and equipment used for the maintenance of student transportation vehicles; for the acquisition of eligible trucks and vans used to carry parts, equipment, and personnel for or in the maintenance of school buildings; for the acquisition of parts, supplies, and equipment used to maintain such trucks and vans; and all other purposes authorized by law; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2025 is approximately $445,370?

VASSAR PUBLIC SCHOOLS OPERATING MILLAGE PROPOSAL

This proposal will allow the school district to levy the statutory rate of not to exceed 18 mills on all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, required for the school district to receive its revenue per pupil foundation allowance. 

Shall the limitation on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, in Vassar Public Schools, Tuscola County, Michigan, be increased by 18 mills ($18.00 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of 10 years, 2025 to 2034, inclusive, to provide funds for operating purposes; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2025 is approximately $1,304,000 (this millage replaces a millage that expired with the 2024 tax levy

Principles of Secure Intra-party Elections

Apr 8, 2025 | Uncategorized

A guide for PD’s and EC members

Part One

Now that the District Caucuses, State and even County Conventions are done for the year, maybe it’s time we step back in this “off season” and take a hard look at how we’re running the elections in those events?

Inside the TCF Center at the 2025 State Convention on Feb. 22nd.

This first of two parts will focus on the State Convention, held on February 22nd, 2025. Part Two will take a look at counting strategies for county conventions and district caucuses. The principles can also apply to certain executive and state committee elections as well. First, I’d like to make an observation: the Caucuses and Convention on February 21st and 22nd in Detroit ran reasonably well, on the surface. But there are deeper problems with these processes that date back to when I began as a precinct delegate (don’t ask, please!) and these bear careful scrutiny and must be improved. We all need to start looking at “best practices” and working on developing standards of excellence in how we conduct all of our intra-party elections.

The most glaring issue on February 22nd was that black box machines counted the votes for State Party Chair.

As many delegates protested, this goes against the majority of Republican opinion, not just in our state but nationwide – right to the Oval Office. It undermines, by example, every goal election integrity patriots are working toward in the areas of transparency and an end to black box voting. The attempt by a majority on the last cycle’s State Committee to throw a bone to us by adding a limited audit system (very similar to Jocelyn Benson’s useless “risk limiting audits”) set the worst possible example and creates a false sense of security.

With the Detroit River in the background, members of District 9’s Audit Team enjoy a brief break in the action

Elections run like the State Convention on Saturday, February 22nd are NOT inherently secure, but because the margin of victory in the chair race was not even close, it was unlikely to have been a significantly corrupted outcome. That’s because the limited audit system did permit a large number of auditors (like myself), assigned to different districts, to view the strikingly lopsided chair race results in real time. Because the auditors, in turn, shared their observations informally with auditors from adjacent districts, it quickly became clear, in an anecdotal sense, that Sen. Runestad had won convincingly. Any attempt to rig the machine vote would have been immediately obvious to dozens of auditors. But in a close race, such gross observations would not have been reliable. And keep in mind, all the Vice Chair races were not audited that day and thus most had no safeguard against election manipulation.

Furthermore, a close race could have been corrupted through exploitation of a variety of vulnerabilities inherent in Saturday’s counting system. One of the most obvious was the selection process for the district audits themselves. Remember, we had a drawing up on the stage where a paid party staffer drew district numbers from a container he alone held. A piece of paper with the number 3 was drawn, therefore District 3 was selected to audit the Chair Race. But what we didn’t know was who put those numbers inside the box? Were any observers up close to view if the box was empty at the start and the numbers were equally distributed among the 13 districts? Did challengers have access to that process from start to finish? (We didn’t see them onstage during the drawing).

The other problem was that, even if the selection of numbers was rigorously secure, the timing of the drawing – before the voting had occurred – made it inherently corruptible. That’s because, once the drawing occurred, the computer count could be altered to ensure that any improper vote shifts only affected districts that had not been selected to be audited. Once the drawing took place and the identity of the district(s) tapped to audit the chair race became known, all it would take a hypothetical bad actor to do would be to insert a pre-programmed thumb drive in the black box machines (or access them remotely via modem) and a vote-shifting algorithm could do the rest.

As in most modern vote fraud, this scenario would be the most plausible in a close race. And, to be clear, this is only a hypothetical scenario and a critique of a flawed process, not of those who carried out the count. It is not meant to cast aspersions on individual election participants. It is meant to work toward the development of an improved process, based on best practices and the elimination of vulnerabilities that could invite or facilitate fraud in future intra-party elections. I would be remiss if I did not remind seasoned delegates and educate the newly-elected that at the 2022 State Endorsement Convention in Grand Rapids, we successfully conducted a hand count audit of the machines, essentially keeping them honest, right down to the vote in every race. It went without a hitch and was run entirely by randomly-selected volunteers from among the convention’s delegates and alternates. We can further streamline and standardize that process and we can recruit committed delegates who can become experienced in hand count voting. All it takes is the will to do it.

The final results appear on the big screen at the Feb 22nd State Convention

Finally, we need to develop a system of blank ballot security. This requires:

 

1. A count of ballots prior to the event in each “style” (ballot design)

1. A written record of how many ballots were issued for each election

1. A log of how many ballots were used in the voting of each election

1. The number of unused, blank ballots remaining after the voting

1. A list of any ballots that are unaccounted for: i.e. missing or extra

1. Proper chain of custody during transport from the counting room to the storage area (in case of a recount)

Introducing proper security measures for our intra-party elections at the State Convention level will not occur without a fight. And it will be a battle fought and decided in the State Committee, but District and local level input from concerned Republicans is essential if we are to move to a culture of excellence in vote counting at our MIGOP State Conventions.

Author: Phil O’Halloran, District 9 SC member and former MIGOP Election Integrity Chairman

Next week: Part II will explore intra-party election strategies for District, County and State Committee elections